Little Town, the Disney+ prequel series to Beauty and the Beast has been shut down, according to new reports. As late as last month, the Josh Gad and Luke Evans led show was seemingly all set to film in the summer after adding more cast members, including singer Rita Ora, but the eight-episode series has now had the rug pulled from under it thanks to production schedules falling massively behind their planned timeline. This has led to the decision to put the project "on hold", although there does not seem to be a suggestion when it will be returned to, if at all.
The report reveals that sources have claimed the decision to put the brakes on the show came down to creative reasons, as it appears the scripts for the series are not producing the feeling that the production team expected, and to make it worse, the music for the show has also fallen behind. The shooting schedule had already moved from spring to summer, but the delays are too great to meet even the extended deadline and has led to the effective cancellation of the project.
Little Town would have focused on Gaston and LeFou, with Evans and Gad reprising their roles from Disney's live-action remake of the classic 1991 animated classic, Beauty and the Beast. As well as its leads, the show had already cast Briana Middleton, Fra Fee and Jelani Alladin in supporting roles, tapped original Beauty and the Beast scorer Alan Menken to produce the music for the show, and looked to have a solid scriptwriting team in Gad and Once Upon a Time creators Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz. The news that the show will now not be moving ahead will come as a disappointment to fans who were looking forward to seeing the extension to the well-loved story.
The Beauty and the Beast Prequel Would Have Developed a New Storyline for Disney Villain Gaston
Only last month, the prequel was given the title of Little Town, and Josh Gad was pretty excited to reveal some new details about the show, which looked to be all set to start filming soon. Speaking in an interview with ComicBook.com, Gad said, "We're still planning on shooting this spring and the scripts are incredible, the music is unbelievable, all-new songs by Alan Menken, we're casting now."
It now seems that Gad's enthusiasm for the project was masking some troubles in the production that have ultimately led to it being removed from the shooting schedule, as both actors are likely to be moving onto other projects and cannot simply wait on the numerous development issues being resolved. Being six years down the line from the 2017 version of Beauty and the Beast, there is a question of whether the opportunity to really tap into the movie's potential has now gone. If that is the case, Little Town could become the latest project to land in the basket of abandoned ideas that just didn't manage to make it to screens.